Agreed. Personally, I think Gary Gygax is the mad notes! I patterned my whole life after him, right down to the drinking, whoring, and cocaine benders (well, for me it's legal speed. Coke's too expensive)

Playing Borderlands 3, every time I draw up the star map I have the urge to stat up a Traveller sector based on it. And this is why I will never be an “ex-gamer” — no matter how long I’ve been away from the dice... it’s there. Like a gaping wound.

Traveller has to feel pulpy, in the "men's adventure" sense of the word. Star Wars, Firefly, Borderlands and even The Expanse all drink form the same sources; Westerns, Republic serials, early-to-mid C20 SF (which in turn drank from Spengler, Toynbee and other historians who believed in cycles of civilization of barbarism).

The days grow warmer and longer; the sun rises earlier and sets later. The cicadas sing from the tree-tops and the mosquitos attack with renewed vigor. We break out the sunscreen and the repellent. We call it spring, after a colonial affetation, but there can be no mistake -- summer is here.

Guess who just got back today
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed that much to say
But man, I still think them cats are crazy
They were askin' if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
Told 'em you were livin' downtown
Drivin' all the old men crazy
The boys are back in town

Start small, board game or card game, get into the “we have to schedule this or we won’t do it” mindset and schedule it. Then play a game with a lot of procedural content, go hexcrawling and roll random encounters, play some of those narrative games that make great one shots with lots of player contribution.

People complaining about the GoT finale: WTF were you expecting? That a series infamous for narrative turnabouts would deliver a nice and tidy finale that would make everyone happy? It was rushed, indeed (and I still can’t fathom why) but it was an interesting conclusion and true to many of the themes explored throughout the series. Spoilers fair game in comments.

I consciously avoid fan communities for the most part. There's some cult-like phenomenon online where what begins as a mutual love for something slowly transforms into a bitter roundtable of feeding hostility.

Pretty unlikely JMal would return. It would be nice if blogs returned but without the unifying effect of G+ I'm not sure how effective that would be. MeWe is clearly not an effective replacement I think.

Yes the victims are the most important consideration. But to use that as an excuse not to take a principled stand is pretty weak, IMO. This isn't political. There's no reason not to take a stand on it. Abuse goes beyond politics and condemning it is a no-brainer to any decent person. Ignoring the issue because you don't want to get your hands dirty is pretty sorry, but to say, "Hey, I'm staying out of this....

I guess I don't see why one has to choose between supporting the victims or condemning the abuser, when the latter is clearly an important part of the former. I understand that y'all don't want politics on this board. But yo, when it comes to condemning abuse, there should be no other considerations.

@CRKrueger Drak Ages has never steered me wrong, that's true. And @Séadna this is one of the reasons why I want Forsaken so bad, but I find the prep -- neighboring Forsaken and Pure packs as well as the local spirit fauna -- daunting.

@Shipyard Locked I find the premise simple enough, especially since we were all Apocalypse nuts, so we have a starting point. And I agree with you on Gifts feeling a bit overdone at times; the decision to nerf werewolf combat forms makes it worse IMHO.